2021 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 86
BY SENATOR FOIL
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To commend and congratulate Coach Paul Mainieri on his extraordinary accomplishments
and achievements and for the distinction and honor he has brought to LSU and to
Louisiana on the occasion of his retirement as head coach of the LSU Baseball
Team.
WHEREAS, Paul Mainieri, who led the LSU Tigers to the 2009 national
championship, will retire at the end of the 2021 season at the NCAA Tournament; and
WHEREAS, he ranks first among active NCAA Division I coaches in career
victories, having posted a 1,501-774-8 (.659) career record and is No. 7 all-time among
NCAA Division I Baseball coaches in career wins; and
WHEREAS, his collegiate coaching career spans thirty-nine seasons, including six
seasons at St. Thomas College (1983-1988), six seasons at the Air Force Academy
(1989-1994), twelve seasons at Notre Dame University (1995-2006), and fifteen seasons at
LSU (2007-2021), encompassing the 2021 NCAA Tournament; and
WHEREAS, the sixty-three year-old Mainieri is one of only five coaches in NCAA
Division I Baseball history to win 1,500 games and a national championship; and
WHEREAS, during his LSU tenure, the Tigers have captured thirty team
championships, including the 2009 NCAA title, eight NCAA Regional championships, five
College World Series appearances/NCAA Super Regional championships, four Southeastern
Conference championships, six SEC Tournament titles, and six SEC Western Division
crowns; and
WHEREAS, Coach Mainieri's six SEC tournament titles tie him with former LSU
coach Skip Bertman and former Alabama coach Jim Wells for the most in league history;
Page 1 of 5 SCR NO. 86 ENROLLED
and
WHEREAS, he is the second-winningest coach at LSU with a 637-282-3 (.693) mark
and has the third-highest career winning percentage in SEC history, trailing only Coach
Bertman who was 870-330-3 (.724) from 1984-2001 and former South Carolina coach Ray
Tanner who posted a 738-316 (.700) mark from 1997-2012; and
WHEREAS, under Mainieri, the Tigers earned an NCAA Tournament Top 8
National Seed in six consecutive seasons (2012-2017), making LSU and Stanford
(1999-2004), the only schools in NCAA history to capture six straight Top 8 National Seeds
and, since 2008, LSU has earned nine NCAA Tournament National Seeds, the second-best
mark in the country over the past thirteen seasons; and
WHEREAS, Mainieri's LSU players have earned First-Team All-America
recognition on thirteen occasions and twenty of his former Tigers have played Major League
Baseball, including MLB All-Stars DJ LeMahieu, Alex Bregman, and Aaron Nola; and
WHEREAS, LSU players have been chosen in the MLB draft on eighty-eight
occasions during Coach Mainieri's tenure, including a first-round selection in seven of the
past twelve seasons; and
WHEREAS, he served as the head coach of the United States Collegiate National
Team for its 2018 summer tour and led Team USA to a 12-3 record, including series
victories over Chinese Taipei, Japan, and Cuba; and
WHEREAS, his sincere commitment to everyday excellence was recognized on
January 3, 2014, in Dallas, Texas, when he was inducted into the American Baseball
Coaches Association Hall of Fame; and
WHEREAS, Coach Mainieri, a four-time National Coach of the Year, joined in the
Hall of Fame his father, Demie Mainieri, who coached Miami-Dade North Community
College to 1,012 wins and a national title in his thirty-year career and Demie and Paul
Mainieri are the only father-son combination in the American Baseball Coaches Association
Hall of Fame; and
WHEREAS, Paul Mainieri was born on August 29, 1957, in Morgantown, West
Virginia, raised in Miami, Florida, attended LSU where he earned a letter in 1976 as a
freshman outfielder and where he also met his future wife, Karen, then a Fighting Tiger
Page 2 of 5 SCR NO. 86 ENROLLED
cheerleader, attained a bachelor's degree in physical education from Florida International in
1980, and earned a master's degree in sports administration from St. Thomas, Florida, in
1982; and
WHEREAS, he is married to the former Karen Fejes and they have four children,
Nicholas, Alexandra, Samantha, and Thomas and four grandchildren, Holden, Jonathan,
Wren, and Rocco; and
WHEREAS, he played one season for his father at Miami-Dade North Community
College and two seasons at the University of New Orleans, where as a second baseman, he
helped the Privateers win two Sun Belt Conference titles and advance to the 1979 NCAA
Tournament; and
WHEREAS, Paul Mainieri entered the coaching profession at his alma mater,
Columbus High School in Miami, where he worked as assistant baseball coach and assistant
football coach, and where he was inducted into the Columbus High Sports Hall of Fame in
2009; and
WHEREAS his collegiate coaching career began in 1983 at St. Thomas University
and in March 2013, the university named its new baseball facility in honor of Mainieri, who
also worked as the school's director of athletics for three years and was recognized as the
1984 Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year; and
WHEREAS, Paul Mainieri was the first civilian baseball coach at the United States
Air Force Academy and four of his players went on to attain the rank of general in the armed
forces and one of his former players, retired Major Mike Kazlausky, is now the head coach
at the academy; and
WHEREAS, at Notre Dame University he directed the Irish to fourteen different
team titles, including a 2002 NCAA Super Regional championship and a berth in the College
World Series; sixty of his players signed professional contracts, and eight of them reached
the Major Leagues; and
WHEREAS, while at Notre Dame University, he was the 2001, 2002, and 2006
ABCA Mideast Region Coach of the Year, 2001 Big East Coach of the Year, 2000 National
Coach of the Year (College Baseball Insider) and his teams appeared in nine NCAA
tournaments in twelve seasons, had forty-plus win seasons in eleven times, appeared in the
Page 3 of 5 SCR NO. 86 ENROLLED
2002 College World Series, 2002 NCAA Regional and Super Regional Championship, won
five Conference Tournament Championships, and seven Conference Regular Season
Championships; and
WHEREAS, Paul Mainieri was hired as LSU's coach in June 2006 and just three
years later, led the 2009 Tigers to the College World Series title, posting a 56-17 overall
record, including a 10-1 mark in NCAA Tournament competition; and
WHEREAS, while at LSU, he has been the recipient of 2018 USA Baseball Rod
Dedeaux, 2017 Stan Musial Award, 2015 National Coach of the Year (College Baseball
Foundation, NCBWA), 2014 Inductee into the American Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame,
2009 National Coach of the Year (ABCA, Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball,
Rivals.com), 2008 National Coach of the Year (Rivals.com, College Baseball Insider), 2015
and 2009 SEC Coach of the Year, and five-time Louisiana Sportswriters Association Coach
of the Year; and
WHEREAS, Paul Mainieri's emphasis upon academic achievement has been
illustrated by the Tigers' performance in the classroom, as one hundred three LSU baseball
players have earned their degrees during his tenure with twenty-five of the graduates being
players who signed professional contracts before completing their college eligibility and who
returned to LSU to finish their degree requirements; and
WHEREAS, in addition, LSU players have received SEC Academic Honor Roll
recognition on one hundred forty-one occasions; and
WHEREAS, Paul Mainieri has made an immeasurable impact not only at LSU, but
across college baseball and as stated by LSU athletic director Scott Woodward, "Every day
he has taken the field, he has honored the game he loves with his class, his character, and his
commitment to excellence. We are forever grateful for the championships he has won, the
student athletes he has inspired, and memories he has gifted our fans over 15 seasons."
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
commend Paul Mainieri upon his retirement as head coach of the LSU baseball team and
does hereby express to him the enduring appreciation for his extraordinary leadership of
LSU's baseball program and for the honor and distinction he has brought to LSU, to Baton
Rouge, and to Louisiana.
Page 4 of 5 SCR NO. 86 ENROLLED
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
Coach Paul Mainieri.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Page 5 of 5